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Program in New Testament

Assistant Director of Graduate Studies: Dale B. Martin
Teaching Group in New Testament: Harold Attridge, Adela Yarbro Collins, Jeremy Hultin, Dale B. Martin, Diana Swancutt

Introduction

The program prepares students to become scholars and teachers in the exegesis and interpretation of the New Testament. The fundamental skills required are historical and linguistic, seeking to understand the forms and functions of the earliest Christian writings in their historical contexts including both the culture of the Roman Empire and the varieties of Judaism within that culture and through them to understand the character, practices, and beliefs of the earliest Christian communities. At the same time, students explore various interpretive strategies, including theological, social-historical, literary, and rhetorical approaches.

While the focus of the program is on the New Testament, ancillary training is also provided in ancient languages and literatures, and the critical use of primary materials such as manuscripts, inscriptions, and textual transmission. Students should also consider pursuing, as time allows, courses in: ancient Greek philosophy from Aristotle to Plotinus; ancient history of the Hellenistic and Roman periods; Greek/Latin literature; literary criticism; theology. Individual students will normally have particular areas that they pursue in greater detail than others.

Within this broad and ideal framework each student develops, by the beginning of the fourth year, a special area of interest out of which a dissertation project will grow.

The teaching group in New Testament includes faculty drawn from Religious Studies and the Divinity School. But close study with faculty in other departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (such as Classics, History, History of Art, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Sociology, and Philosophy) is also normal and desirable, providing expertise in subjects, approaches, and methods not usually taught in religious studies departments; such faculty members may play an important role in a student's course of study or dissertation research. With special permission it is possible to make certain alterations in the program of study and examinations that are pursued.

Recent and current dissertation topics include:

"Apocalyptic Transmissions: New Testament Interpretation and the Rhetoric of Modern Cultural Crisis"

"Written Law and Obedience in Paul's Letter to the Romans"

"Hinterland/Holy Land: Imaginative Mapping in Galilee"

"Watch Your Mouth: Speech Ethics and Identity in Early Christianity"

"Departure and Consolation: The Polyphony of Genres in John 13-17"

"Scripture Cannot Be Broken: The Social Function of the Use of Scripture in the Fourth Gospel"

"The Role and Function of Repentance Within the Narrative of Luke-Acts"

Preparation for Admission to the Program

Ordinarily only those students are admitted to the program who have a good working knowledge of Greek, classical Hebrew, German, and French. Some prior course work in New Testament Introduction and Exegesis and surveys of the history of Christianity and Judaism are strongly recommended.

Language Requirements

A good working knowledge of Greek (Classical and Koine), classical Hebrew, German, and French is presupposed in courses starting the first semester in the program.

(a) German and French: fluent reading ability, demonstrated before the beginning of the third year by departmental examination, by accreditation from a Yale Summer School course designed for this purpose, or by a grade of A or B in one of Yale's intermediate language courses.

(b) Greek: Greek 790/Syntax and Stylistics (Classics Department).

Greek Examination Procedures for New Testament Studies - Before taking the last general examination (that is, normally in the third year of residence), students will be examined on a selection of nonbiblical texts in Greek including extra-canonical Christian texts, the list of which will be approved by the senior professors in New Testament Studies. In lieu of an examination, students may propose, subject to approval by the faculty, a translation "project" of some substance. Following the submission of the written examination or project, students will be given an oral examination on the Greek of the New Testament by a designated faculty member. Admission to the last general NT examination and the dissertation prospectus colloquium will be contingent on completion of the Greek requirement.

(c) Hebrew: two years of course work or the equivalent

(d) One year of course work in either Coptic, Latin, or Syriac

Course Work

Normally four courses per term are taken in the first two years; they may include some reading courses or tutorials. Every student in the New Testament program will complete at least one course in advanced Greek exegesis of a New Testament gospel and one in a New Testament epistle while in residence at Yale. Students may enroll in courses in any part of Yale University and students of New Testament are strongly urged to pursue course work in related disciplines, such as Classics and Ancient History, ancient Judaism, Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Theology, History of Religions, Comparative Literature, Sociology of Religion. Auditing courses can also provide valuable exposure to unfamiliar subjects and methods. The selection of courses is made in consultation with the Assistant Director of Graduate Studies for New Testament and other faculty advisors. The Graduate School Honors requirement must be met each term.

Courses

Courses recently and currently offered at the doctoral level include:

Exegesis:

The Gospel of Matthew (A. Collins; Hultin)

The Gospel of Mark (A. Collins)

The Gospel of Luke (Hultin)

The Fourth Gospel (Attridge)

The Acts of the Apostles (Hultin)

The Letter to the Romans (Swancutt)

The Corinthian Correspondence (Swancutt; Hultin)

The Letter to the Galatians (Hultin)

The Letter to the Philippians (Swancutt)

The Letter to the Hebrews (Attridge)

Second Peter and Jude (Hultin)

The Revelation of John (A. Collins)

Ancient History and Culture:

Hellenistic Philosophy and the New Testament (Attridge)

New Testament Apocrypha (Attridge)

Ancient Lives (Bioi) and Early Christian Literature (A. Collins)

Ascents to Heaven in Antiquity (A. Collins)

Martyrs and Martyrdom (A. Collins)

Ancient Apocalypticism (A. Collins)

Jesus’ Death as Saving Event (A. Collins)

Pauline Theology and Anthropology (A. Collins)

The Greco-Roman Environment of the New Testament (Martin)

Disease and Healing in the Ancient World (Martin)

Rhetoric and Early Christianity (Martin)

Gender in Early Christianity (Swancutt)

Crafting Early Christian Identities (Swancutt)

Israel's Scriptures in the Early Church (Swancutt)

New Testament Ethics (Swancutt)

History of First Century Palestine (Hultin)

Septuagint (Hultin)

Interpretation and Hermeneutics:

Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel in Ancient Christianity (Attridge)

History and Methods of the Discipline of New Testament Studies (A. Collins)

Contemporary Social and Literary Theory (Martin)

The Modern Jesus: the Quest for the Historical Jesus and Modernity (Martin and Swancutt)

Reading Scripture Differently (Swancutt)

Literary Theory and Biblical Interpretation (Hultin)

(See also courses listed under the Ancient Christianity program. Other courses in Classics, Divinity, History, Medieval Studies, and the History of Art are also relevant.)

Annual Seminar

A common seminar in New Testament/Ancient Christianity will be offered one term per year, and is required of all students in the program, as long as they are in residence. It is attended by faculty of the New Testament and Ancient Christianity teaching groups, one member of the faculty in turn directing the seminar each year.

The Greco-Roman Lunch

Once a week during term, graduate students and faculty in several programs of the university, including Ancient Christianity, Ancient Judaism, Classical Archeology, Classics, History of Art, Medieval Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and New Testament meet for lunch and conversation and hear a brief, informal presentation by one of their number on work in progress. Attendance of this colloquium, which is voluntary and informal, provides a pleasant and friendly way to keep up with students and faculty in related parts of the university.

Qualifying Examinations

The qualifying examinations cover: (1) earliest Christianity and its milieu (including critical approaches to its problems); (2) New Testament interpretation. The four examinations in group (1) are normally taken, one per term, over a student's first four terms of study, in conjunction with graduate courses on the topics covered. Each of these examinations may consist of a set of papers or a long essay. The topics are

a. The Environment of early Christianity: the Greco-Roman world

b. The Environment of early Christianity: the varieties of Ancient Judaism

c. Christianity in the second century

d. The modern history of critical New Testament scholarship and the present state of the discipline

The general examination in New Testament exegesis and interpretation (2) is normally taken in the fifth or sixth term of study and must be completed before admission to candidacy. A syllabus of readings is prepared by the student in consultation with the faculty. The examination consists of one day of written examinations followed soon thereafter by an oral examination. In preparation for the general examination, the student should aim for an up-to-date survey knowledge and an orientation to (but not expertise in) the problems that have concerned scholarship. The examination is not meant to test the student's ability as a research scholar, for this is done in research papers and the dissertation. Rather, its purpose is to certify preparedness to begin special research and to construct one's own courses as a teacher.

Teaching Fellowships

Teaching fellowships are often available, and they offer an opportunity to gain fluency with the subject matter of the program and to develop pedagogical and lecturing skills under the supervision of an experienced teacher, in addition to providing financial resources. Especially relevant, academically, are fellowships in the introductory courses in New Testament history and literature and the history of ancient Christianity given in Yale College, and on New Testament, early church history, and patristics at the Divinity School. Teaching opportunities in other subjects also arise.

Dissertation Prospectus

The dissertation proposal ("prospectus"), worked out in consultation with the faculty and normally about ten pages in length, is submitted normally in the seventh term of study to the teaching group in New Testament, who, together with other appropriate faculty, meet with the student for a two-hour colloquium to assess the scope, significance, and feasibility of the topic and the student's preparedness to accomplish it in a reasonable time. The colloquium is a cooperative, collegial enterprise whose goal is the success of the dissertation project. The prospectus itself ordinarily should include a statement of the precise nature of the topic, its significance, its relationship to previous work, and the method and sources to be employed. It should also include an outline of chapters to be included. After approval by the teaching group, a two-page summary of the proposal is submitted to the entire graduate faculty in Religious Studies and thence, if none object, to the Dean of the Graduate School; the student is then admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. Once accepted, this prospectus becomes the basis for the eventual assessment of the completed dissertation. It should be noted that the faculty members who gather for the colloquium do so in order to advise the student on the dissertation prospectus only. Dissertation research is conducted under the direction of a single faculty advisor, and the completed dissertation is judged by a panel of readers selected at the time of completion.

Progress to the Degree

The Ph.D. in New Testament normally requires five years, according to the following schedule. Terms 1-4: course work, including languages; the four examinations in earliest Christianity (normally one per term); annual seminar. Terms 5-6: Greek examination; preparation for the general examination; annual seminar; general examination in term 6 (or 7). Term 7: preparation of a dissertation project; (general examination, if not already taken); dissertation colloquium and approval of topic. Terms 8-10: research and writing of a dissertation; annual seminar (as auditor). By rule of the Graduate School, a student must be certified in French and German before registering for term 5, and must have an approved dissertation prospectus before registering for term 8.

Contact Information

The Department of Religious Studies
P.O. Box 208287
451 College Street
New Haven, CT 06520-8287
Phone: (203) 432-0828
dale.martin@yale.edu

 
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